South Wales to Gatwick question

[Magic Mouse]

Hi,

There will be five of us travelling next year and I’m just trying to work out the best way to get to Gatwick from South Wales.

We don’t have a car big enough for five plus luggage and don’t really want to have to take two cars so I suppose we’ll be looking at a small minibus.

Does anyone have any ideas how much this would cost both ways?

I will start contacting some local firms next week but just wondering if anyone had a rough figure.

Thanks.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

No idea sorry but I do know it wont be cheap.

Have you thought about taking one of your cars and parking it there. Then doing 2 x 1 way hires of something cheap and cheerful for 2 people.

[ziggyzag]

I contacted a few firms last year to go from Swansea to Heathrow and it was around £420 for a return

[Gill H]

Could you get the train? You can change at Reading for Gatwick and miss London out.

Train fares are not bad if you travel off peak and book early. You could get a family railcard maybe?

[cartoonp]

As GILL H have said train a very good idea

[TINKERBELL44]

We are thinking about traveling up by train next June, Cardiff to Reading then Reading to Gatwick 😃

[apollo163]

I'd look at the coach fare or train fare and just take the one car with all the luggage

[Posiesmum]

We’ve done Swindon/Reading/Gatwick a few times, but have sworn never again! The train, despite going to Gatwick, is not a designated airport train, so there is little storage for luggage. On our last two trips it was horrendously crowded and late. Final insult was that, as it was running late, it terminated at Redhill and we had to lug everything out of one train and onto another.
After that, we swore never to do it again. Since then we get the train to Paddington, cab to Victoria and Gatwick Express to Gatwick. Maybe less than ideal with a large group, but it worked for us.

[Simon & Suzann]

We pay about £450 for mini bus but that was 8 of us.
This year and next year we are taking car as only 4.

Don't know the train prices but personally I'd prefer to do mini bus night before then stay in hotel. Hassle and stress free plus you can freshen up in the morning. If there's a crash on M4 then no problem as going the night before.
Plus it makes your holiday seem longer with extra night lol.

[caro]

We are planning to train it from Stroud, change at Reading to Gatwick next year, mainly to solve the Gatwick out, Heathrow back issue (getting a coach home from Heathrow). My hubby wasn't keen on the idea, but when I told him it was cheaper than we normally pay for parking for 2 weeks he was willing to give it a try lol